At least nine people were injured Friday when an Amtrak passenger train slammed into an 18-wheeler at the intersection of Clermont Boulevard and North Railroad Street in Clermont Harbor, Mississippi, according to authorities. The Hancock County Sheriff's Office asked residents to avoid the crash area as crews responded to the scene along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Several people were hurt in the collision, and Amtrak passengers sustained what spokesperson Johnny Alison described as minor injuries, according to NOLA.com. WLOX-TV in Biloxi reported that at least nine people were injured overall. The crash remains a developing story, and full details on the extent of injuries and the cause of the collision had not yet been released.
A Route With a Troubled First Year
The train involved was operating on Amtrak's Gulf Coast Mardi Gras route, which runs between New Orleans and Mobile and officially resumed daily passenger service in August 2025 — the first such service in 20 years, after Hurricane Katrina destroyed coastal rail infrastructure in 2005, as documented by Courthouse News Service. In its first year back, the corridor logged 18,906 passengers, operating two daily round trips between Mobile and New Orleans with Mississippi stops in Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi, and Pascagoula, per Wikipedia's entry on the service.
Friday's crash is the latest in a string of incidents on the line. The Mardi Gras route has been linked to four fatal crashes in 2025 and 2026 that together killed six people, and it has seen several other accidents in that same span. Hoodline previously reported on a fatal pedestrian strike in Biloxi that marked the sixth death tied to the corridor. Amtrak and regional officials have said they have taken steps to improve safety along the tracks, though crashes have continued.
Why Trucks Keep Getting Stuck on the Tracks
The recurring collisions point to a specific infrastructure problem along the 145-mile coastal corridor, which is owned and operated by freight carrier CSX Transportation under a 2022 Surface Transportation Board settlement backed by $178 million in federal infrastructure grants, according to Smart Cities Dive. Periodic track maintenance by CSX can raise rail heights by half an inch to three inches, creating steep humped crossings where low-clearance 18-wheelers and commercial trailers frequently bottom out and become trapped, as explained by RHCJC News.
That exact scenario played out in April 2026, when an Amtrak Mardi Gras Service train struck a commercial trailer carrying two vans that had become stuck on tracks in Grand Bay, Alabama, partially derailing the locomotive and injuring crew members, though all 48 passengers escaped unhurt, per NBC 15's reporting. The hazard is not confined to the coast — in March 2026, an Amtrak train carrying roughly 240 passengers collided with an 18-wheeler at a grade crossing in Jackson, Mississippi, according to WJTV, showing the problem extends across the state's rail network.
Deficient Warning Systems Draw Scrutiny
Safety gaps at Gulf Coast crossings have already proven fatal. A September 2025 collision in Pass Christian killed two Long Beach residents at a crossing that had active warning lights and bells but lacked physical crossing gates, according to WWL-TV, prompting local calls for safety upgrades.
State officials have begun responding to the danger. The Mississippi Department of Transportation launched a federal- and municipal-funded pilot program in Long Beach in 2025 to raise roadway approaches at steep crossings, with plans to expand similar fixes to Pass Christian and other coastal cities, per an MDOT news release. In 2024 alone, Mississippi recorded 30 highway-rail grade crossing collisions at public crossings statewide, resulting in five deaths and 12 injuries, the same release states. Federal regulation also requires every crossing to post a blue Emergency Notification System sign listing a 24/7 phone number and a unique crossing ID so dispatchers can halt oncoming trains when vehicles become stalled, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.
Friday's crash in Clermont Harbor remains under investigation, and further details on injuries, the truck driver, and the cause of the collision were not yet available.
